An alarming report published by the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy
Advisory Commission warns about the dire effects of the quake and
claims that it is imminent and could strike anytime. The report,
which was compiled by a group of more than 150 volunteer experts,
was requested by the Oregon legislature in order to adequately
prepare for the looming disaster.

The last high magnitude earthquake in the region occurred in the
year 1700 in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The quake had a
magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, and geologists in 2010 predicted
that there is a 37 percent change of another such quake occurring
within 50 years. The new report claims that there is a 100 percent
chance of a monster earthquake occurring in the region – but
scientists don’t know when.

"This earthquake will hit us again," Kent Yu, an engineer
and chairman of the commission, told lawmakers. "It's just a
matter of how soon."

Jay Wilson, vice chairman of the commission that put together
the report, told AP that “we’re well within the window for it to
happen again.”

With no time frame for the predicted earthquake, Oregonians need
to be constantly prepared for one. The report warns of death and
devastation ranging from British Columbia to Northern California,
the worst of which will strike Oregon.

"Oregonians as individuals are underprepared," Maree
Wacker, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross of
Oregon, told AP.

An earthquake, together with the resulting tsunami, could leave
Oregonians without water, power, heat, telephone services, and in
some cases, gasoline. After a deadly earthquake and tsunami hit
Japan in 2011, lawmakers grew concerned that a similar disaster
could occur in the US. The report says that geographically, Oregon
and Japan are almost identical – but that Japan was far more
prepared than Oregon would be if it faced the same fate.

The most recent report is not the first warning of an imminent
high-magnitude quake. In 2012, researchers at Oregon State
University published a study concluding that there is a 40 percent
chance of a major earthquake in the Coos Bay, Ore., region during
the next 50 years.

The Northwest US is long overdue for an earthquake, and it’s
only a matter of time before the coast once again witnesses a quake
with a magnitude higher than 8.0.

“By the year 2060, if we have not had an earthquake, we will
have exceeded 85 percent of all the known intervals of earthquake
recurrence in 10,000 years,” Jay Patton, co-author of the
Oregon State University's research, said in a press release.
“The interval between earthquakes ranges from a few decades to
thousands of years. But we already have exceeded about
three-fourths of them.”